host: the flag is at half-staff at the capitol building. six op were killed at a

christian school in nashville. 39-year-old children and three adult staff members were fatally shot the attacker was killed by police at the scene. we are getting your reaction on our lines by party affiliation. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002 we have a line for educators. -748-8003. you can use that line to text us your thoughts. we are on social media at facebook.com/c-span, and twitter and instagram. welcome to washington journal. i will start with the washington post. the headline is on your screen. nashville school shooter who killed six was heavily armed and left a manifesto.

"a shooter armed with two ar -styled weapons killed three students and three adults at a private christian school in nashville on monday. the latest deadly rampage and a nation anguished by the regularity of mass killings but deeply divided over how to stop them. police identified the shooter as audrey elizabeth hale of nashville. hale was shot and killed by police a small academy housed in a presbyterian church. john drake is the chief of the nashville police department and says law enforcement officials were working to determine a motive but said hale attended the school. he said officers recovered a manifesto and maps that appeared to include entry points for the school. police said they recovered additional material in a car hale drove to the scene.

drake said hale was transgender. asked of them played a role and we described as a targeted attack, drake said it was part of the police investigation. "there is some theory to that. we are investigating all the leads and what we know exactly we will let you know." a police spokesperson clarified the remarks. "audrey hale is a biological woman who on a social media profile used male pronouns." we are taking your reaction to that tragedy on our lines. take a look. here is president biden yesterday speaking at a women's business summit meeting. [video] >> you know, ben and i have been doing this are whole careers, it seems. it is sick. we are still gathering the facts of what happened and why. we know as of now there are a number of people who did not

make it, including children. it is heartbreaking. a family's worst nightmare. i want to commend the police who responded incredibly swiftly. we are monitoring the situation closely. we have to do more to stop gun violence. it is ripping our communities apart. ripping the soul of this nation -- at the very soul of the nation. we need to do more to protect our schools so they are not turned into prisons. the shooter in this situation reportedly had two assault weapons of the pistol. i call on congress again to pass my assault weapons band. -- ban. there is more to learn. i wanted to send my concern and heart out to so many parents out there. i have been to so many of these

sites. one of the things you folks -- i know you know but you should focus on, just like when in the military -- my son was in iraq and other places. so many members of the military coming back with posttraumatic stress after witnessing the violence and participating. these children, these teachers, they should be focusing on their mental health as well. i am grateful anyway. host: that was the president talking about the shooting. we are taking your calls for the first hour and getting reaction to that. the numbers are on your screen. democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. a line is set aside for educators.

(202) 748-8003. let's start with linda in mississippi on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: good morning. my heart goes out to those families that have lost babies. nothing but babies, children. in tennessee, they have gun laws that you don't have to have a background check, a license. you can carry them anywhere, anytime. as young as 18 is allowed to carry a gun. and an automatic pistol. anywhere, anytime. that endangers not only the children, it endangers the police. they are outgunned. if you want safety for yourself and your home or on the street, you need to give the police some

support. we don't need them walking around in the city, anywhere with guns. especially long guns. what is the purpose? we have to do something. you are not safe with more guns. thank you. host: lloyd is in brooklyn, new york on the independently. caller: good morning. thank you for accepting my call. i am very stunned about what is happening here. i think the people in america, as the bible says, this is the people that honor me with their mouth but their hearts are far from god. we don't really care about this. we have people who talk about pro-life. they are mia. they are missing in action talking about helping to stop

this massacre we have in this country. we could have guns for everybody, but let's have stun gun's. -- guns. everybody have a stun gun. we could solve the problem. if we talk about we care -- the bible says we care about those who are not born but we don't give a heck about those who are born. how can you love that which you don't see and hate that what you see? you love the unborn but you hate those who are living right now. this is a nonissue. we should have people who talk about loving god and talking from a biblical standpoint. if they talk about this issue then let's ban all guns. let everybody have stun guns.

host: let's talk to roy from melbourne, florida on the democrats line. caller: first of all -- first of all they need a ban on assault weapons. it's ridiculous people can carry ak-47s in the united states. if not going to give us an assault weapons ban, they need to provide armed security. they need them at every single entrance going into the school. guys with guns that are open, carrying guns. they are the only people that are supposed to have them. we came away from loving each other. it is time to get back to that. politics has pulled us apart, like 9/11 did. what's going on with these guns is ridiculous. something has got to get done. there are six families this morning waking up without their kids. three families anyway. six families altogether.

this is getting absolutely ridiculous. all the republicans care about is going after biden, hunter biden. they don't care about anything legislative or nothing. ok, ted cruz, give a security. where is it? that is the only way to combat it if it not going to do anything about guns because it will happen again. it will happen soon again. when it does we will just sit and say thoughts and prayers and all this. president biden has laid out what should be done. it is mental health, right? it is the assault weapons. we are not saying take away the second of emmett. take the -- second amendment. take the ak-47s and ar-15s office street. governor desantis here in florida does not care about that. everyone will be able to carry a gun, which will be extremely dangerous. if you cut somebody off and you have somebody that is not mentally stable, they will pull

out the pistol and not think about it and shoot you. the hate, the bigotry. everything that is going on in the world right now has got to and. g -- got to end. god wants us to love each other. host: roy mentioned the assault weapons ban. senate gop. gun reformegislation unlikely after nashville school shooting. it says that it cast doubt on the possibility of legislative action on firearms in response to the shooting at a school in nashville earlier in the day. senator john cornyn of texas says he does not believe the senate can go any further on firearm-related bills over expanding background checks. the cham -- background checks than it did last year following the mass shooting in uvalde, texas. the legislation was the most

controversial package signed into law in three decades and became law with bipartisan support. let's hear from jim in hattiesburg, mississippi. independent. caller: good morning. i wanted to say i am 35 and i have been -- most of my life these have been happening. these mass shootings. i have noticed a pattern that almost immediately after it happens people start talking about mental health. i just wanted to say i think that's a red herring. i think the thing we have to grapple with is that a lot of these people have no history of diagnosis or any involvement in

the mental health care industry as a patient. automatically assuming all these people are mentally ill, i think it kind of confuses mental illness with just people. -- evil, which is not necessarily mentally ill. host: let's take -- let's talk to russ next. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. jim is right, the prior call as far as mental health. anybody that does this to a school is crazy. as far as trying to find out a motive or trying to make sense of it is insanity. it is insanity. they are crazy people. my main thing is, why don't we keep the doors locked? how about that?

i have not heard anybody else say it. maybe once on foxy other night. -- fox the other night. host: in this case -- in this case the shooter actually shot through the door. caller: put stronger doors. how much? put some metal doors up that are lockable. uvalde, they came in through the doors. a teacher prompted open so she could have a cigarette. lock the doors. keep the doors locked. make a single point of entry that is controlled by somebody in the school and then nobody gets in the school. host: let's hear from karine jean-pierre. she was at yesterday's briefing and talked about the shooting. [video] >> we are seeing the heartbreaking news of another shooting of innocent school children. this time in nashville, tennessee.

the president has been briefed on the situation and our team is in contact with doj and local officials about what is known so far. we want to express the president's appreciation for the first responders and prayers for all the families affected by the shooting. what we don't know yet -- while we don't know yet the details in this tragic shooting, we know too often schools and communities are being devastated by gun violence. schools should be safe places for kids to grow and learn and for our educators to teach. as you well know, president biden has taken more action than any other president in history on gun safety. from nearly two dozen actions, including the executive order he just signed last month -- this month, pardon me. to the bipartisan safer communities act legislation he

signed into law after the tragedies in uvalde and buffalo. he believes it is not enough. we must do more and he wants congress to act, because enough is enough. it his state of the union he called on congress to do something to stop the epidemic of gun violence tearing families apart, tearing communities apart. how many more children have to be murdered before republicans in congress will step up at act to pass the assault weapons ban? to close loopholes in our background check system? or, to require the safe storage of guns? we need to do something. the president calls on congress to do something before another child is senselessly killed in a preventable act of gun violence. again, we need to do something. host: that was karine

jean-pierre talking about the shooting. we are getting your reaction to that tragedy in nashville. three children killed, three staff members were killed. sylvia is next in asbury park, new jersey on the line for democrats. caller:. i just want to say this. every single person in the house of representatives and senators who are against a ban on assault weapons are accessories to murder. to the murder of children, to the murder of adults. they are accessories to mass murder. there is no other way to explain their resistance to having a ban on assault weapons. no other way. host: joy in california. you are an educator. caller: yes. art and fashion illustration. host: go ahead. caller: i agree completely with

the previous speaker. i am an abc unified school district. we have one ultra maga extreme school board member out of seven. it is that mentality of the maga extremists that was just spoken about on the representative floor when they were passing that parental rights bull. it is so sad that the extreme maga republicans who were former republicans who i respect will not follow through, especially now that we have this tennessee school. this christian tennessee school were three precious, precious nine-year-olds were murdered. and the three adults who were murdered.

that they don't have the gumption to do something to stop that killing. we just went through monterey park here, that mass murde that's omhere i live in the serino' sit city. we have a korean american who is a m extremist on there who questie ridiculous mantra that desantis and trump are pushing. and gun safety and rules and regulations is the furthest thing from theirin only trying to get rid of transgender people. only trying to get rid of lgbt people, and books and book banning. it is ridiculous. i can go on and on buthank you for letting me speak. host: let's get a couple of

reaction from lawmakers via twitter. governor bill lee of tennessee says i am closely monitoring the tragic situation at covenant and the tennessee department of safety and highway patrol are assisting local law enforcement and first responders at the scene. as we continue to respond join us in praying for the school congregation and nashville community. this is congressman byron donalds. "we extend our deepest condolences and prayers to the families impacted by today's devastating shooting in nashville. this senseless disregard for human life erodes our society and kills many innocent people. pray for nashville and those grieving." this is representative marjorie taylor greene. " biden and the democrats send hundreds of millions of dollars to ukraine to defend the bad guys with guns. why won't biden and democrats support legislation to defend

our own innocent american schoolchildren with good guys with guns?" senator marsha blackburn of tennessee says, "chuck and i are heartbroken to hear about the shooting at covenant school in nashville. my office is in contact with federal, state and local officials and we stand ready to assist. thank you to first responders working on site. please join us in prayer for those affected." lisa is calling from florida on the independent line. caller: good morning to you. i am going to say i am appalled at the hypocrisy of the callers. there are more shootings in l.a. , detroit, chicago, philadelphia, baltimore, new york. by criminals, by gangs who have illegal guns. you are deluding yourselves thinking you will take away guns from law-abiding citizens such as myself and the criminals are still not going to have guns.

you are disarming the law-abiding citizens and enabling the criminals to be more powerful. if you think if you take away the guns, which is never going to happen because the black market will still exist, people will resort to other forms of doing this. they will do what they did in france where they modem people vehicles or slice people up like they did on the subway or push them in front of trains. host: what do you think of the ban on assault weapons? caller: i don't have a problem with a ban on assault weapons, even though i own one myself. i don't have a problem with it. my weapon is for my own self defense. my defense against the government. i just have to say all these people calling in about joe biden -- listen, if you have not awakened yet and realized joe

biden is in the communist party and the democrat party has been hijacked by the communists -- host: taylor in virginia. you are a teacher as well? caller: i am. to that caller talking about uvalde and the doors, let's talk about the 300 cops with multiple guns who sit around waiting to rescue those children and that 20 kids died. number two, people are talking about having assault weapons. what do you need an assault weapon to protect yourself or? number three, as an educator i go to work expecting what my students to have a gun of the building or somebody to come in the building. i have done hide and lock drills once a month, every month, hiding with my kids and making plans for shooters to come into the building. host: do you have a police officer at your school? caller: we have a resource officer there once a week and i don't care if he is there are not.

he does not make a safe. i have made plans to run -- leave the school and run to neighborhoods. i have planned how to run if a shooter comes into the building. i don't trust the government to protect us. everyone will give us thoughts and prayers like they have since columbine. that is all i have to say. host: stephen charleston, south carolina, republican. caller: this is heartbreaking. it angers me so much. i have an 11-year-old grandson who was in elementary school and will be in middle school next year. i'm sitting right now with a six-month-old. i am wondering about what they will face in a few years. i am not a marjorie taylor greene fan, but it angers me so much that we have billions of dollars to give to ukraine. we have all this would money

that was diverted to build playgrounds -- we have all this covid money that was diverted to build playgrounds. i would like everyone to google the safest school in america. navy you can have the video on tv. it's a school in indiana. you would not have believed how secure the school is. there is no way this could happen at that school. what happens is there priorities are out of whack. host: what makes that school so safe? caller: you will have to look it up. it sounds bad. it's almost like a prison security system. all the outer doors are solid doors. all the inner doors lock automatically if there is an alarm. there is a live feed with cameras to the local police. you can look it up. there are cameras everywhere. there is no way when an alarm sounds the police will not be there right away. all the doors lock

automatically. it is like a prison lockdown system. just look it up. let me add this. can i have one thing? i'm a gun owner. i have a concealed weapon permit. one of the rules, we cannot carry weapons onto grounds of a soft target like a church, a hospital or school. every day when i wait in line to pick up my 11-year-old grandson i'm sitting in my truck. if i see somebody coming, i'm helpless. i am trained. i can't do a darn thing. i think that needs to change. thank you. host: jerry, a democrat from spearfish, south dakota. caller: i'm here. host: go right ahead. caller: what i would like to say is what we should do is abolish the second amendment, besides gun reform. that is my comment.

host: let's look at reactions from twitter. this is representative and to goals. "-- andy ogle. "we are sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of those lost. as a father of three i am utterly heartbroken by this senseless act of violence. i am monitoring the situation and working with local officials. thank you to the brave first responders who provided support throughout this tragedy." we have a text from radford. "mental health is the issue. this person was troubled. where where were the red flags? the gun did not target those kids. the insane trans person did." "we have failed our children miserably." steve says, "it is mentally ill not to ban assault style

weapons. that is my prayer. i pray to ban." hakeem jeffries says "heartbroken and deeply troubled by another tragic school shooting in america. praying for the children, families and entire national community. thankful for the decisive response by law enforcement who prevented a greater tragedy. congress must act." let's talk to mike in ohio, independent. caller: hello. i believe in solutions. i have three simple solutions. fortify all schools. metal detectors, one entry point, manned with off-duty police officers. have cameras with entry points so when the doors are open the police officer can see this. when the police officer sees

this, they can respond to that. also, congress can pass a bill that gives funding to all schools to be fortified. i'm sorry. banning assault weapons will not resolve anything. the united states is already situated with these type of weapons. the only difference between a rifle and a pistol is the range. you can achieve the same goal with a pistol. a rifle cannot be concealed. a pistol can. if a person wants to shoot up a school, they know they will be met with force. i don't believe it will stop the shootings completely but it will deter the majority of people from doing that. once again, it is the funding. they talk a lot of talk. ban assault weapons, background checks. once again it will change

nothing. host: here is a response from the republican candidate running for president. he posted this on twitter regarding protecting schools. [video] >> the real question is why this criminal got into the school in the first place. we protect our banks. green pieces of paper sitting in the bank more effectively the schools. we protect airplanes through thousands standing around at the tsa and the formed of armed federal marshals on certain airplanes without putting any armed security actually to protect kids in schools. you go to the mall and you will see more security protection then you do in a public school today. we spent $83 billion through this federal department of education which i said i would shut down. we can use those funds more effectively not to force gender ideology and other poison onto our kids. think about the downstream consequences of that. go back to physically protecting

the kids we send to our schools. i refuse to just stand by as some bystander watching this and accepting it like it has to be so and spouting off irrelevant topics like an assault weapons ban. we have the same number of guns today that we did 50 years ago. what is different is the mental health issues that have changed since then. think about the role our schools have already played in that. what will do our schools play in that? the most basic question is we have to literally, not some psychological sense, physically protect our kids. that is an apt role for using the federal funding of 80 plus billion dollars. let's make sure something like this does not happen again. that will be a priority for me as president. host: we are taking your calls for the next half-hour, reaction to the six lives lost in nashville at the school shooting. joyce is next on the republican

line from stockbridge, georgia. caller: yes. several calls back you had an educator that said the maga extremist on the panel. there is the problem right there. over half the country has been designated as domestic terrorists by our president and many of the democrats in congress. there is so much hate against over half the population. what do you expect? now they are attacking christians. this person went into a christian school. i am on twitter and i read all the time about fake christians. how do you expect when there is so much hate? it is coming from our president. thank you. host: jeffrey is next from michigan, democrat. jeffrey? caller: thank you for taking my

call. we know that republicans in every state will not vote for gun reform. this is kind of an easy fix. if the republicans would vote a handful of these revocable -- republicans out of office in every state, you would see the rest of republicans running with their tails between their legs. then the republicans after that could go back to their ignorant ways. in michigan, we control the house and the senate. we actually have gun reform going on. thank you. host: pat in connecticut, independent. caller: good morning. the division between the right and the left in this country is beyond me.

native americans have a saying that the right wing and the left wing are part of the same bird. i believe everyone wants to keep our society safe, especially children. you can pass all the laws you want but evil does not obey law. it does not. as far as the mental health issue of being transgender, i learned that gender is between the ears and sex is between the legs. to rectify your head there is medical manipulation of the genitals. people does not -- evil does not obey laws. host: charles santos us this on facebook. "-- charles sent us this on facebook. "another reminder we have a serious mental health problem in this nation. it is past time to harden all of our schools. we must look this evil in the

eyes for what it is and end gun-free zones." "this shooting is uniquely cataclysmic for the families of the kids and teachers who died but let's not delude ourselves. every kid and adult in that school is a victim. most of them will experience life altering trauma that we can never understand and will never go away." let's talk to donna in indiana. republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i have been on the school board. i am still on the board of directors. if they put cameras all around the outside of the schools, as well as inside, locked the doors, train the staff, these people are coming in from outside. they could have been seen carrying guns if there were cameras. please cameras have to have constant monitoring. no breaks. no chance for anybody to get in.

fund the schools to pay for these things. pay people to do this. what is the cost of people dying because you don't have enough security? host: since you were on the school board, who should pay for private schools to have all these cameras and all the security you are talking about? caller: that should be a top -- safety has become first nomad of the cost. it does not cost enough to lock the doors had put cameras up. that is not as expensive as losing all these lives. that has to happen. host: let's talk to wendy from michigan, democrat. caller: what i see is every time there are school shootings everybody raises their hands and says -- wrings their hands and

asked, what we do? president biden has to tell congress i want the assault ban on these guns on my desk now. be firm about it. i see these little kids. they are babies. they are getting ready to learn things. they will neverrs or parents or anything. they are gone and their parents are heartbroken. i feel so sorry for those parents that lost those little kids yesrd. every time there is a school shooting i think of the parents. they sent their child to what they thought was a safe place, their school, and they are not coming home. they are going to be with god. thank god they will be with god but to see those little kids who will never be able to be adults, their parents are hoping -- to be the adults their rents were

hoping they were going to be. host: sue from wisconsin. caller: i retired last year from teaching. i worked in a school that had a lot of unstable staffing. a lot of mental health issues. substance abuse issues, things like that. until we start helping families fix their environments and parent correctly we will continue to see kids who have mental health issues. it is not about the guns. it's about working with families and fixing mental health issues. also holding parents responsible for what their children do. we have taken that responsibility away. schools are trying to be everything to everybody. we have lost track of the fact

that we need to teach children. we need to have support for families that are struggling. i enjoyed 30 years of teaching but to watch children struggle to survive their childhoods is heartbreaking. it is really not about the guns were taking away the second amendment rights. it's about helping children who were struggling with mental health issues and helping families that are unable to parent their children. also who have been given a pass. we need to step up and expect parents to do their jobs as well. schools cannot do it all. host: let's look at senator dick durbin who was on the senate floor yesterday talking about the shooting. [video] >> i cannot begin to imagine the families and school community --

what the families and school community is feeling at this moment. we send our condolences and if we are grateful for the first responders who were dispatched to the school within minutes and ran towards the sound of gunfire. but once again thousand prayers are not enough. -- thoughts and prayers are not enough. these shootings targeting little children are happening with sickening regularity in this nation. this could be the 129th mass shooting since 2023 began. 129 mass shootings in america. we are fewer than 90 days into this calendar year. that is more than one mass shooting per day. what is a mass shooting? four victims shot and killed in an incident. last year congress took steps on gun safety reform.

the judiciary committee i serve did a lot of work on these measures. i was happy to support both of them. as today's shooting in nashville demonstrates, there is more work to be done. the fact this is a daily occurrence in america is unconscionable. host: we are taking your calls this morning on that deadly shooting in nashville at a christian school. for the next 20 minutes here on the first segment of washington journal. ozzy in north miami beach, florida, independent. caller: good morning. i have a few things. i am afflicted by this. i am sick to my stomach when i got home yesterday. i saw the news. i went on facebook and i posted. you know what?

thousand prayers are fine. everybody wants solutions, fine. before the solutions get done, all the parents, pick up your kids. don't send your kids to school anymore. locked down this whole government as far as the parents -- locked on this whole government. the parents have to take the kids to school. don't worry. when they see parents taking their kids home and not sending their kids to school, shutting down the system, they will have to react. they have to come up with something. for republicans, before 1995, the government was not coming to your door and knocking on your door with guns to get you. assault rifles were illegal. nobody was coming to get you. relax. the kids are more important than having an ak or an ar 15 or whatever the hell. just stop sending your

kids to school. host: vicky is a republican from st. petersburg, florida. caller: good morning, america. this is a very, very sad situation. i see it as a mental health situation. if you just turn on the tv you will see shows that have violence in them and these videogames that are violent. it is almost like if we don't attack the problem through hollywood and through our videogames, these kids are always seeing that guns are acceptable. it doesn't really matter how many guns are out there. every night on the tv you can watch some popular program with some popular actress or actor thinking you are in with the gang, in with the cool people

because -- kids are seeing this all the time. we are seeing more and more young arrests all over this country of teenagers, their hijacking cars, committing assaults and i have to feel the mental health issues that are being brainwashed on tv every single night and day on these programs. that is my input. if any bill is passed, it has to involve hollywood getting these shows off the air. host: let's go to compton, california. good morning, eric. caller: good morning, america. another tragic day in america. i would like to speak on what i have seen going on here. it is called christians killing christians. these churches teaching the bible and guns go together like a hand in glove.

i'm not talking about changing laws. i want to talk about changing hearts and minds. host: you say that churches are teaching what? caller: that guns in the bible go together like hand in glove. pastors are teaching that. i'm talking about pastors, christians. if you understand the true teaching of the word of god, again, everybody knows this. christians. i want to talk about christians right now, owning guns. if you claim to be a believer in jesus christ, you are taking the protection of christ for yourself, off your family, offer community, and therefore this is what we get in america. i'm not trying to preach. everybody knows how this world works. they have been teaching it to us

backwards in this upside down world. they know it. because the kingdom of heaven got divided. it's very violent. if you look at the kingdom of faith, the world can't see -- host: timothy from smith center, kansas. republican. caller: how are you? host: i'm ok. caller: first things first. the second amendment says shall not be infringed. people need to understand that is what it means. the government needs to stay out of this or get teachers, guards, retired vets to guard the schools. guns ain't the problem. it is the people with mental health that are the problem.

that is all i have to say. host: elizabeth from san diego, democrats line. caller: good morning, c-span. i would like to say my heart goes out to the people of tennessee and mississippi. listening to all these people calling in, talking about fortifying the schools, building steel doors. wake up, america. it is not just happening in the schools. children are dying in the churches. these fatalities have been on the second floor. the kids were not even in the classrooms. they were in the choir section. people are dying in concerts. las vegas. 150 people shot from a nearby hotel. it happened at a christmas parade. we cannot fortify our country enough to protect it against

ak-47s and weapons of war. to see the republicans like marjorie taylor greene glorifying these weapons of war, that is the problem. everybody can have their gun, their protection in their home. they don't need an ak-47. it's an abomination. also, those kind of guns are fueling the fentanyl traffic. one young woman who was there today in tennessee, she was also shot at in another event. i think it was in the northern united states. she talked about how the guns are fueling the fentanyl drug trafficking and how it happens now when people go into ballgames, everybody puts their guns in their cars because they cannot get through the metal detectors. people are running into the cars and stealing the guns out of the

cars. host: let's talk to phil in indian island, maine. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i am a vietnam veteran. i served for 18 months in vietnam. i have seen the damage assault weapons due to the human body. -- do to the human body. since i left vietnam, the times i have needed an assault rifle is zero. i am 77 years old now. let's talk about the second amendment. the second amendment talks about a well regulated militia. a well regulated militia is our army, national guard, air national guard, marine reserves, coast guard, navy reserves.

that is our national -- that is our well regulated militia. this woman that shot up the kids in the school in nashville, tennessee, she was not part of a well-regulated galicia. -- militia. no civilian has business owning an assault rifle. you just can't imagine -- you cannot take a hit from an m-16 and survive. there is no surviving being shot by an m-16. this second amendment is totally misinterpreted by so many people. host: we have got your point. hurb in franklin. a republican. caller: why didn't we have the

shooting back in the 1950's and 1960's? i think we are doing something wrong. that is all i have to say. host: nancy is in los angeles, democrat. good morning. caller: i'm also an educator. i am calling as a democrat. and to goals -- andy ogles is the representative in congress of the district. in christmas of 2021, the christmas cards he sent out wa -- he sent out were a family of him and holding guns. host: i saw that. caller: ok. i think it kind of speaks to the gun culture. also, you may have discussed this. is there a correlation between stricter gun laws and shootings? less strict gun laws and shootings? do you have information or have you talked about that?

host: we will be having at 8:00 eastern our next segment with an expert on that. i will definitely ask that question for you. mike in indiana, independent line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i appreciate all the points and counterpoints of this. it is unfortunate that morals have declined in this country. i know numerous people who own firearms and all sorts of things. the main thing is they are not doing it because they have to own a gun. they are not doing it because it is morally incorrect. i look at statistics recently. 93% of shootings are committed by people who should not own a gun in the first place. they are not allowed to. consequently they do that. i don't think we ban people from

owning firearms who are transgendered or anything like that. i don't think we ban people from being -- ban people because they are black. it is a moral and ethical issue. unfortunately people don't follow the law that are committing these crimes. it is sad that this has happened again. we need to look at that more diligently. banning it from certain people or races or anything like that will not solve the problem. the problem is, morally and ethically, people need to get their heads screwed on straight and stop doing this stuff. host: elizabeth in texas, republican. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for taking my call. we have heard s solutions

and some good solutions but before we can actually deal with these solutions we are going to have to learn to go back and listen to each other. we are not listening to each other. we all have great ide have got to start listening to other so we can reach compromises and pass these bills. as a country and as a congress. i hope we can start having some compassion for each other and listen to what the other person is trying to say. that is all i have. host: james is in baltimore, maryland, democrats line. caller: thanks for taking my call. a couple of things. like probably almost everybody else in this country i am incredibly angered and frustrated that this continues to happen. we continue to have thoughts and

prayers and say something should be done. it is clear there is an impasse between folks who believe there should be some kind of greater control of who has access to weapons that can cause this much destruction of life and limb. we are up against an amendment, the second amendment of the constitution. i feel like we are at a point where they are just far too many guns in this country. we are in a pandora's box situation. there are too many in circulation. certainly everything we can do to keep people who should not have access to a gun should be done. inasmuch accordance as we can with protecting the rights of

responsible gun owners. i know responsible gun owners. i know people who own these weapons. they use them for recreation. unfortunately there are people who are acquiring weapons that are not using them for recreation. i think it's important to probably make a more concerted effort to make sure when people are identified as having problems that red flag laws are quickly enforced so that we can keep things like this from happening again. they will never stop it. i just don't see -- host: chad in chicago. you are an educator. caller: there is no such thing as an assault pistol. this debate around the idea of

an assault rifles ban in insane. until week create a more perfect union we should protect the second amendment to ensure all citizens are equally protected within this country. that is pretty much my idea. my thoughts and prayers go out to the families and children. host: kavan calling us from minnesota, independent line. caller: hi. i have been an educator for over 20 years. one thing is whe i first started an education they would let you know if someone had a mental problem. now they have so many laws that you don't even know if there is anybody in her class with any problems or anything. it is not the guns. guns don't kill. people kill with the guns. they have to stop protecting the people so much. that is one of the biggest problems.

it won't matter if you have an ak. you can hide eight .45s on you and you can't see it. they can shoot u.s. fast as an ak. host: albert from new jersey. caller: good morning. every time there is something like this it brings me to tears. it's awful. i'm 65 years old. i went to school when things were going bad in the 1970's and there were problems. things happen. with all the money the school board has why don't they make their own type of school police? the schools can have protection. i had a couple more points. i was thinking of the poor people going through a crime like that, shooting kids and innocent children.

you know you have a mental problem right there. the third thing i wanted to say was i think we should start looking at the parent. -- parents. they have problems. i think they should look into them too. you have to know what your kids are doing. host: that is the last call we will be able to take for this segment. coming up on washington journal, steve gutowski, he discusses yesterday's shooting and the battle lines between house republicans and the white house over gun control. and later, steve clemons speaks about the domestic unrest in israel. we will be right back.

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listening to programs on c-span through c-span radio got easier. tell your smart speaker to play c-span and listen to washington journal every morning at 7:00. catch washington today for a fast-paced report on issues of the day. listen to c-span at any time, tell your smart speaker play c-span. washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal, i am joined by steve gutowski founder and editor of the reload and we will be talking about god policy. welcome to the program. i will remind our listeners you can give us a call if you would like to make a comment or question of our guest you can do that by a party affiliation

(202) 748-8000 democrats, (202) 748-8001 republicans, (202) 748-8002 and a private line for gun owners. (202) 748-8003. tell us what the reload is, what it is and how it's funded. guest: it is funded through membership dues, it's a member funded organization and we focus on reporting on a national scale about what is happening with firearms throughout the country and capitol hill. host: your website said it sheds light on underreported aspects of gun ownership.

it informs rather than enrages. guest: we take a nuanced report to reporting on firearms than you might see on either side of the aisle. i am a certified firearms instructor and have been reporting on this topic for close to a decade. we try to have an informed point of view that helps eliminate our reporting in a way that's uncommon elsewhere. that is one of the things that sets us apart. host: let's talk about the shooting in nashville. what do we know about the guns used and how they were obtained? guest: there were three firearms the shooter carried on them. a 9 mm handgun, a nine millimeter carbine and an ar-15 pistol which is an ar-15 that

has a shorter barrel and no stock. those were obtained as far as we are aware, legally. the police said the shooter did not have a criminal history although they did say two of the three were bought legally and locally which could imply that one of them was not. we are not clear exactly the details on that. host: the president has called on congress to ban assault weapons. where is that right now and what impact does that actually have? assault weapons were banned in the past but that expired. guest: there is no appetite for a band of that sort. you saw in the last congress, the house passed an assault weapons ban for the first time since the last one passed in

1994 and expired in 2004. that is when democrats controlled the house and it was passed along party lines. they never took up the bill because we did not have the votes. now, republicans control the house and they are opposed to an assault weapons ban which would include an ar-15 and one that is targeted for these types of bands as well as their use in high-profile shootings. the band was in place for 10 years and in that period, you had a columbine in 1998. there are a lot of states on either side of the issue on how effective the ban was.

part of the justice reviews said it did not have an effect on gun crime and it only lasts for 10 years. you still have states that have bans on assault weapons. and they still have mass shootings carried out with firearms. it's not a cut and dry thing that when we had a band there were no more shootings. it remains an ongoing debate we have valid for 30 years about whether or not that is the right policy to addresses. host: i wonder where you think the american public is at this point? there is a gallup poll that says dissatisfaction with u.s. gun laws its new highs in 63% of

americans are dissatisfied with u.s. gun laws, 34% are satisfied and you can see the dissatisfaction going up over time. guest: that is the trend you've seen for a long time. you will see this is cyclical in nature with support for gun restriction in the immediate aftermath of a high profile shooting. support for new gun it restrictions will increase and then a few months later, it will decrease again. you see a lot of debate in the immediate aftermath of the events. one interesting bit is when you talk about assault weapons bands, it lost support over the last year even with with the

uvalde shooting. more people oppose a weapons ban. the trend has been downward and recent years. host: let's start taking some calls. we have clifford from birmingham, alabama. caller: i have a question i would like to ask the speaker. do you think it would be a good idea for the american people, especially people who love these guns as they do to see how a child bodies looks after one of these weapons has hit one of

these children? we get the sanitized version of it. should the public be able to see what these weapons of war are doing? i am not against a gun. i have a 16 shot rifle, that should be ample protection. but these weapons, should the public be able to see this and think about them after one of these kids have been shot? guest: that is something you have heard from gun control advocates. they want to publish the graphic photos of the aftermath of an attack like this. certainly, people would react to that. i would also say any sort of

gunshot wound is going to be a horrific thing to look out regardless of the weapon. host: patrick is in the villages in florida on the independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. one thing i have always notice after these mass shootings, we never get the blood test of the shooter. were they on some kind of psychotropic drug that drove them crazy? a couple of more points. according to the wall street journal, the federal government 80% of the medical bills, regardless of the situation, why is the federal government having to pay for them? if the nra had to pay for them i

think there would be a lot of debate on how many guns we really need. c-span never brought up, i think it was three years ago when that kid ambushed police. he was so heavily armed with body armor and the rest of it, they had to send a robot a bomb into the take them out. will we need federal money to harden our schools? cut your sports program. society does not need a sports star. put the money into that. spend the rest of the money protecting your own schools. host: one of his points was about blood testing the shooter. guest: certainly there are ethics when you look at the history of mass shooters in

these cases where mental illness plays a significant role in what happened and there may be treatments that they are on. i have not seen any documented evidence that it is the main contributing factor. when you do research on this topic, chronicling these attacks since 1966 and looked at different patterns. you will see someone spiraling downward into a state of mind where they are a threat to themselves and others. what they recommend is people who see these red flags happening beforehand and notice what is going on with them try and intervene and do what is called off ripping. you try to divert them away from that outcome of creating violence to other sorts of

treatment. i think that's a more viable solution to these kinds of attacks than looking at prescription drugs. host: where are you on universal background checks? should they be strengthened? should they be more stringent? guest: that's a long-running debate and is one of the two major things people have been arguing about over the past 30 years. there hasn't been any movement on that. i don't think it is likely to happen. they did pass a bill last year that did change how the background check system works for 18-24-year-olds and change the definition for domestic abuse or.

you saw some progress on that front last year. passing that bill and a lot of people's minds was an action that they took and they won't revisit for a while. host: have we seen any changes or impacts from that act? guest: i don't see any discernible widespread impact. the way that 18-20 four-year-olds bioweapon has changed creating a de facto waiting. period. it hasn't been long so we haven't seen exactly how bad has played out across the country. in this situation i don't think it applies because the shooter was 28 years old so they would not have been affected by those provisions. host: let's talk to ray he was a

gun owner in pennsylvania. caller: good morning and thanks for c-span. i just have a quick question and a comment. i keep hearing the term used, these are weapons of war. can you give us on what countries use ar-15's for the military? number two, we spend a lot of money overseas to countries who hate our guts. why can't we divert that money towards putting two police officers in every school? these are soft targets and the reason we are soft targets because there is nothing there preventing anyone from walking through those doors. guest: while the ar-15 is not

employed by any military, because it's a semiautomatic only version of what in our military would be called the m4. a military that has a cousin, but the turn of phrase weapon of war is a fuzzy one because most firearm actions, semi automatic revolvers, pump action shotguns have been employed for military use but we don't call remington's a weapon of war. there is a military version of it. i appreciate the point about how we talk about firearms as well. host: let's speak to kelly a

republican from indiana. caller: hi, good morning. i want to say something to the gentleman. about 60 years ago my uncle was a policeman and he was talking about his gun and he said, a gun is used to kill. simple as that. i hear people talk about the assault weapon in this and that. my heart goes out to all of these children that have been killed. those children could not have been killed if the weapons were not able to be purchased. i think they should be banned. all weapons of that type should be only sold to the military and they should not be no import or

export without governmental approval. the people who care about assault weapons care more than they do a dollar. guest: there is a long running debate about semiautomatic firearms, are they too dangerous for civilian use? it is highly contentious generally, the public is split on this question. most states do not have an assault weapon ban. delaware and illinois past a new law last year and they are facing court challenges. delaware's ban was upheld by a federal judge yesterday. there is still a lot of action.

host: you had a recent story on your website the reload that said the supreme court's decision in new york state's case has had wide reaching consequences. guest: there was a paper released by professor at pepperdine, jake charles that wrote that all of the cases that have been decided since last june, 20's 22 second amendment amendments have come through. heller didn't have any successful claims in the first year.

there is a lot of good reasons for that, the bruin decision on the supreme court was a reputation of how the lower codes had been handling the second amendment cases. you have probably heard the way they treated it as a second-class right. not only did they have this denunciation about how lower courts handled it but how they should decide them going forward. you are seeing the significant effect. host: kathy is calling us from ohio, a democrat. caller: i'm a little bit nervous but the reason is, i was shot at twice in my own home. i don't know who did it or what kind of gun it was. it made a popcorn sound and i

was shot out and a half circle arch in the bullets rained down and at that moment, all the work i did in school and everything went away and all that mattered was that i lived in a house with stone walls and i ran into the house for protection. i am so grateful for those stone walls. after that, i was very scared for a long time. and now i feel betrayed by my own country. how could we let the situation get this bad? i am deeply concerned about the logic of our leaders. let's think outside the box? can we do something crazy and awesome like collect all of our automatic guns and send them to ukraine where they need them? let's do something awesome instead of this crap.

guest: full automatic firearms have been banned since 1986. you can't go to gun store in and buy a fully automatic. as far as people surrendering their guns are sending them to ukraine, i don't think that's likely. host: a lot of people will say the issue is that we don't need more gun control laws we need to enforce the ones that are on the books. where are you on that? guest: that is a common argument you will hear from pro-grad advocates and there is some truth to that. you see a lot of laws broken. straw purchases when someone buys a gun that has a clean record but they buy it or

someone they know can't have one. i don't think anyone is opposed to that law which is already in place. but it doesn't get prosecuted at nearly the same rate as other types of laws. you hear a lot of complaints about prosecutors reducing charges when there are gun crimes at the state levels. it is been a point of contention over the past several years. there is legitimacy to that. i don't think there is any one light switch you can flip that is going to solve gun violence or mass shootings. there are a lot of separate

issues when you talk about different kinds of gun violence that probably need to have their own solutions looked at. some of the will involve stringent enforcement laws. host: we have been in rochester, new york. caller: i have a question and comment. one regarding ukraine and the other gun control. regarding gun control, when are we going to start putting the fear of god and to murderers? when will we institute the death penalty for any mass shooter regardless of age and execute them by tribunal? they shoot up the school and they get the firing squad. second question, why is there is c-span media background on the

war in ukraine. host: he is talking about punishments for shooters and in a lot of cases there killed at the scene. guest: what the right punishment for a mass murderer, people have different opinions on the death penalty. whether dying is a deterrent for someone who is undertaking a mass shooting because a lot of them die in the process and often times that seems that is their goal. having someone there who can engage with them will perhaps have a greater effect. the difference between what happened here and uvalde is

the time with which they were confronted. they were able to engage the shooter within 14 minutes and that probably saved a lot of lives. host: avery is in new jersey and is a gun owner. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. this question is for your guests. can you hear me? my question is, i think i have the solution to this gun problem we are having here in america. especially here in south jersey. they have not said anything about bullets, nothing about owning guns.

if you increase the price of bullets i think that would cut that a whole lot. could you take a survey to see if anybody agrees about that? host: what you think about banning ammunition? guest: there have been attempts to ban some kinds of ammunition. that is on the fringes of those. one of the main problems he would run into with any sort of attempt to ban or regulate to the point where people cannot afford it you would run into constitutional issues because it's effectively just banning guns by another means. the current understanding of the supreme court is that firearms are protected by the second amendment and that extends to things like ammunition.

like you can have a gun but you can't buy a gun. i think those arguments will not went out in the end as far as being constitutional. host: what will you be looking at for the next election? what issues will you be watching? guest: guns will play a big role because there is a stark contrast between president biden and whoever wins the republican nomination because at this point the parties are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. the president wants to ban some of the most popular firearms in the country. republicans want things like requiring each state to recognize concealed carry permits. you don't see any crossover or

bipartisan support for. voters will have a choice on that issue. host: steve gutowski thank you so much for joining us. up next, steve clemons discusses the global news of the day including israel. and later, rebeca romero is the ceo of independent community bankers of america and she will discuss the recent stressors in the banking system. ♪ >> eat up to date in publishing with tv, podcast about books.

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anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span, powered by cable. washington journal continues. host: welcome back to washington journal, i am joined by steve clemons, welcome to the program. semaphore is a new publication, what's it about and what is its meaning? guest: semafor means a true signal from a false signal. it is an exotic word. it's a big global digital publication. we have held semafor principles

on finance, africa, a global newsletter, it's a major global digital publication with big aspirations. we read all the other news leaders so you don't have to. host: let's talk about israel, there's a lot going on. there are mass protests, strikes, the airport has shut down all outgoing flights. what's the latest? guest:guest: three months protet a christian andguest: three mont a christian and when senator netanyahu fired its defense ministers when they said israel should put on hold judicial reform. which means the political world

taking over the courts. prime minister netanyahu oh is in the middle of corruption charges and whether the attorney general has the capacity can rule him unfit for office. that was one of the issues. the other is, allowing them to buy majority votes and overrule decisions of the supreme court. it would change the balance of power inside israeli society. prime minister netanyahu has been committed to overturning that and giving his leadership and edge over traditional authorities. israel is tied up in knots over this and we saw a massive protest in israel and now prime ministerminister netanyahu has t

on hold. host: is that enough, to appease protesters? he used the term civil war? is that with this is moving towards? guest: it's hard for us to judge of this would lead to a real civil war. the reason the defense minister came out is that service people are not showing up and saying this issue could up and saying this issue could become a vulnerability for israel's national security if there is a huge division in the ranks of the military. whether that leads to civilwhetr or not, israel is a politically divided nation. what prime minister netanyahu is experiencing is when you have a bare majority and a fragile coalition it's hard to move

something is controversial is this. they said he was doing it in a self-serving way to remove himself from jeopardy, from the legal process. host: i will remind our viewers if you would like to call i lines or by political affiliation (202) 748-8000democ1 republicans, (202) 748-8002 independentsindependents. [video clip] >> does a fine and administration have confidence

does a fine and administration have confidence in the leadership of prime minister netanyahu? >> israel has enjoyed a strong democracy 75 years ago. the hallmark of the u.s./israel relationship has always been been democratic and that has been something president biden has had the opportunity to discuss to discuss with prime minister netanyahu recently. to discuss with prime minister netanyahu recently. we support israel's security and we work with our israeli partners on a number of issues including prime minister netanyahu. >> you are so confident in his leadership capabilities? host: interesting that he did not answer that question about confidence in netanyahu. guest:guest: there is significat concern over this judicial before not being judicial reform but undermining the core

principles of democracy in israel. it is israel going to remain a democracy or will it it be taken over by political leadership. it's very controversial. that is what thethat is what the house has previously expressed. you have to read into it very carefully. host: is it probable that israel could no longer be a democracy? guest: it depends on how you look at it. there have been a lot of criticisms over palestinians within israel. the pathway for israel to remain as it is today with occupied territories can it remain a democracy when you talk about

territory controls? if it became a two solution that is a it became a two solution tt is a pathway for israel to remain a democracy. thus far, right now, because of the decisions that the supreme court has made about expanding settlements over made about expg settlements over residences, a lot of them dealing with the palestinian question. there has been frustration with the far right with the supreme court. that is what is coming down to in some quarters. this uncomfortable question of can israel remain whole and to democracy? host: i want to ask you what's happening with russia and ukraine. last week, russia and belarus presidents allowed for tactical

weapons and belarus. those are meant for the battlefield. those are short ranged missiles. what's the response from the what's the response from the west to what's going on here? guest: there is concern about vladimir putin's nuclear brinkmanship. this is recklessness after pulling out of the nuclear arms agreement with the united states. if we support the retaking of c rimea that this could that tha nuclear exchange. it's a serious issue. i talked to leading defense experts. he believes there is less there thanthan people -- vladimir puts

using this as a tool to send a signal about where he is willing to go and nuclear arms are back in discussion which is raising questions about whether which ig questions about whether we have simulated responses to that. host: what's the latest on the latest on the ground and ukraine? has russia made advances? are ukrainians able to mount a defense? guest: ukrainians have valiantly defended their territory. there are areas of ukraine that have been decimated.

they throw many new recruits from russia into the system. i have seen tooi have seen too , thousands dead and the atrocities going on inside ukraine and we know about deportees, particularly children to russia. all of that continues. what i don't have an answer to'o is what is the resilience on each side of this equation for this kind of slaughter and tension.

there was a massive attack by russia against ukrainian energy infrastructure, ukraine seems to be turning a corner on that. we have also seen the daily missile rate from russia decline. is that lack of supplies? we don't know the answer. the intensity of russian onslaught is being challenged. host: before we start taking calls i want to ask about syria. there are still troops stationed still troops stationed in syria. they carried out airstrikes after the drone strike that left troops injured. what is going on there? how long will they be there? guest: it's a really great question. there are 900 troops stationed in syria on a mission to disrupt isis and islamic radical activities. that is the mission that they have there. that is the mission that they have there. iran and syria have said those forces are illegal and need to be removed. it's a violation of sovereignty.

we had a u.s. contractor who was killed in response president biden launched a counterattack that killed syrian military people and we blew up in a ronnie and joan yesterday. what i find interesting, i don't have an answer for it, we have activities in the u.s. congress to rescind the authorization of use of military force that was set into place after 9/11 that was used to authorize many of the interactions we have had in the pursuits of vices. if those come back it raises the question of whether u.s. forces in syria do have authorization from congress to do what they are doing. in iran, we have 2400 troops there at the request of the iraqi government. in syria, that is clearly not the case and we will have to see how it turns out.

host: we have jim in erie, pennsylvania. caller: i wanted to ask your guest a couple of questions. if something happens to be putin who is the next in line and is he as insane as putin is? my major concern is our southern border. i can understandi can understane chief of border patrol testified under oath that we had operational control of our southern border. how can thathow can that not ber one priority of any administration? this seems to me like when they did the numbers in the past couple of years. 5 million have come.

5 million have come across and given themselves a. they send them around the united states. 1.5 million got away in the past couple of years across her southern borders from 170 different nations. guest: on putin, i think there is a consensus that if vladimir putin disappeared, this system does not present a warm and fuzzy leader and russia. this is not the function of one individual.

people thought there was a difference between leaders but there is difference now. among putin retainers, there res no evidence that someone will come in and move russia into the direction that is going right now. on the southern border, i would say that america has asylum laws. people are seeking asylums and separating those cases from other cases is a huge process. my criticism is we have hundreds of thousands of backlogged cases and you can have a backlog of his much as five years years ine way that these are being dealt with. we have too few resources to deal with this to support u.s.

law. it's around to support u.s. law. it's around that that we see a lot of the horrible pictures, detention centers, the efforts by kamala harris in the partnership for central america to stabilize these in the partnership for central america to stabilize these economies so that there are jobs and economic opportunities. i disagree with jim, jim, thereo doubt that it is a major problem in identifying this border is a problem will not fix it but more resources into the processing. unless we want to walk away from asylum laws. as part of the question here.

the division and congress is do we stand by those laws and find the way to process cases which are backlogged and overwhelmed or do we resend those laws and create alternatives. the dna of america is a place where america is a place where immigrants, we have been a welcome mat for a lot of those folks and we have to wrestle with how to get this right. but right now, not enough resources. host: let's talk to rick in south dakota. caller: about the whole gun crisis, the only possible way for it to be rectified. i think the only way possible

for us to solve school shootings is fort hood shooter to go up to a u.s. senator's or u.s. congressman's and shoot the school where their kids are. guest: i completely disagree. with gun laws, what happened in this town, we are looking at the capital from c-span. our congressman need to hear from people. we have people that have gun rights. host: kathleen is in chestnut hill, massachusetts. caller: i'm sorry i thought you were talking about what's going on in israel. host: we are.

caller: perfect. my very good friend is israeli. her mom and sister live in tel aviv. i do follow netanyahu and he belongs to the far right. what the ruffle is about, i think in general is the extreme right party and they are messing around with the supreme court. the other thing, netanyahu is known for being the trump of israel. he is very conservative and they

are feeling that it's the only democracy left in that region of the world. i have strongi have strong feelm glad the reserves, their military has brought things to a halt. military has brought things to a halt. it's more like they are fearful of the far right wing. they are calling netanyahu the maga crowd of israel. guest: netanyahu is a successful prime minister, he's been there multiple times. he is there because he was

elected and able to put together governments. we know from polling and voting that the israeli electorate has moved to a national security right. the parties are worried about national security but there is a social dimension and various dealmaking. with that said, that coalition is a fragile one. there are parties that are committed to a racist agenda. that doesn't mean that he himself holds that but the other party does. it would be a mistake because netanyahu is conservative,

that's not where israeli society is. they are worried about national security. but to change the political way between the elected politicians in the judicial branch that may be a line has been crossed and we see a massive response to that and that may constrain netanyahu's course and that is part of democracy. people have the right to protest andpeople have the right to prot and communicate. we have not seen this kind of activity and israel before and that's why it's so remarkable. host: we have this question from you via text, why do we still give israel 3 billion a year in military aid when they have a 90 a 90 billion weapons export business? guest: they are an ally in a troubled region and there are a

lot of political concerns there. israel has been a proponent of our interest. israelisrael has been very smart how it takes defense dollars and it has ceded those dollars and its own productive capacity. it is one of the most innovative and innovative and dynamic digital networks innovators in the world. israelisrael has been able to ts assets and turn them into a vital part of a vital part of their economy. to the point, israel has grown a successful site.

i think it's been influential, with the uae and other states are doing, they've normalized relationships with israel. in the long run, that will be stabilizing. host: let's talk to darrell in nevada. an independent. caller: thank you very much for c-span. i want to make a couple of comments about the southern border. what is the problem on the southern border border? how did it get to be that way? if after world war ii,

that labor, we would have cheap labor coming across the border. there was anthere was an operats there a specific question? caller: the southern border has to do with cheap labor and the united states destabilizing the government's of central america. guest: overtime, immigrants take

jobs that other americans would not take. it's a much, much bigger issue right now and i think candidly, the states in attracting immigrants from nations all around the world has been part of the match of the american economy and keeping things going. that is my personal view. i think right now, it's an issue, and important to understand that you have most democrats at the border are not come from -- emigrants of the border not coming from mexico. some people are coming over who have families and are serving that immigration story. it has been from the stressed economy that central america and which there are horrific acacia -- horrific conditions and drug lords basically run the states people are trying to escape that are coming in, that is what we are finding. host: and you said the u.s. is destabilizing those countries? guest: i think right now the

united states is trying hard to stabilize those countries. i think we have the story of ij bongo, former ceo of mastercard and now nominee for the world bank president, has involved in the cochair, working with vice president kamala harris to work its. i think they have $5 million short of where they're going but i think it's a question of how to stabilize them in an effective way. it also rolls back some nightmare situations these people are dealing with. it is part of the equation, how to relieve pressure in the sub quarter, one of the elements in addition to processing asylum cases. host: let's go to the republican line, mark is in washington, state -- washington state, good morning. caller: good morning. host: go right ahead. caller: i have another point about the border. host: go ahead.

caller: what was wrong with president trump's stay in mexico plan that was turned over 20 minutes into president biden's inauguration? and how many drugs are coming over? they say they are all coming over through the port of entry, which is incorrect. and how many terrorists or known terrorists on the watchlist are coming through with the yada ways? host: let's go through some of those. stay in mexico. guest: it did not end when president biden came in, they are working with mexico to process asylum applicants in mexico. as i said in the show already, the system is overwhelmed and it has created uncomfortable realities for the biden administration because they also have taken on and accepted the

prospect of establishing detention centers, which were exactly the point of criticism they were criticizing them trump administration for. so both white houses are finding themselves -- have found themselves overwhelmed by circumstances trying to figure out how to deal with that. i think one of the major differences to the caller is the biden administration is committed to keeping families together. what we see as one of the strategies of the people seeking asylum is they are sending their children over the border while they remain back and thus separating their own families and creating i think very important moral and ethical questions for those folks dealing with them whereas, during the trump administration, there was an exposure strategy, very controversial, and trot -- inside the trump administration separating families as a deterrent. this is when he gets tricky, when you are deterring people because they see the detention centers and separated families, will that change their calculus

of how desperate they are and the asylum they are seeking and support they seek from the united states? it's hard to get into the heads of this but basically it is a very different signal united states is trying to scare people away by creating conditions that i don't support, that i would readily criticize. but i think donald trump and his team -- i was talking to a very senior member of the trump administration this past weekend and this person still has nightmares over that policy which they strongly fought and argued so it is important to realize that inside the trump white house, there were incredible debates about this, great discomfort about how that policy played out. host: i want to ask you about something you just broke a story about the release of an imprisoned political accident -- activist from rwanda.

guest: yes. host: he was made famous because of the movie hotel rwanda. guest: he saved over one -- 1200 people during the rwandan genocide of 1994. he became a political activist and was critical of paul's leadership in rwanda and he was -- he started a group that allied itself with a group that had become violent, the national liberation front. this national liberation front got engaged with domestic violence and innocent civilians were killed in a school bus, others, and he was lured over to africa to give a speech and ended up in rwanda and was tried there and convicted i believe in

2021 and has been in prison since on a 25-year jail sentence along with 20 other individuals sentenced to the same time. i've interviewed the president of rwanda several times this last year and in december of this year when the u.s. africa leader summit was happening in washington, i interviewed the president and he was strife he would not release rusesabagina and it would take an invasion to get them out. i interviewed the president again in qatar and in that interview i said i have not seen anything in the news and if you ask americans what they know about rwanda, [indiscernible] he said sometimes we have to be prepared to forgive the unforgivable. that is when i knew they were able to -- they were going for release.

he is now outside of rwanda in doha on, kotter. -- qatar. i think if everything goes on track he will be back in the united states tomorrow. host: let's talk to marco, line for democrats in michigan. caller: yes. i listen to see spent all the time and thank you for taking my call. i wanted to comment on israel and then yahoo!. -- netanyahu. this idea that he is not a fascist in israel is an apartheid state, i think there's plenty of evidence for the case and this idea -- i will keep it short -- this idea that there is only democracy in the middle east, love nature and not a deliberate action of the united states making sure many countries in the region are destabilized and i think how we talk about israel is problematic

in that you can be critical of the israeli government while being anti-semitic. thank you. guest: i agree with the -- without being anti-semitic. thank you. guest: i agree with that last point, that you can be critical without being anti-semitic. i think that is what president biden in fact is doing by critiquing this so-called judicial reform effort. that said, i think it is also a mistake that we need to be careful because of whatever views we may have as progressives, as conservatives, as misreading countries. i have been watching israel for many years, i have known many politicians on the right and left. for whatever reasons right now, and it could be demographic, it could be questions of where israeli societies come in. there has been a discussion of more recent immigrants to israel

have come from russia and the political equilibrium seems to have shifted in israel over the last couple decades into a more conservative slot and i think israel, like any society, has to wrestle with that. i also believe strongly we should call it what it is when we see a democracy undo itself and that i think is what president biden is concerned about as well as other global leaders. host: frank, independent line. guest: yes, -- caller: yes, i have two points to make. caller was talk about the drugs coming in and of the wall was up that would probably not happen like it is. other points about the assault rifles, that might have been your last show -- host: that's ok. caller: yeah, your assault rifles, there are so many assault rifles and shootings, somehow a lot of people believe

these kids, everyone doing the shooting, where they getting the guns? because a lot of them are mentally on drugs and how are they getting the money for these guns? they are all being shot dead, and if you could google this, but it is probably taken down, james webb lee how in california got put up to it, they put him up to the shootings. another guy called in to say they put him up to it. they know civil war is coming and they put the shootings up. host: let's get a response. guest: on fentanyl and drugs across the border, i think we do have a drug consumption problem, a drug supply problem. a lot of these ingredients are coming from places like china. i do not think the wall is the answer. there are other answers that we have to consider. on the issue of rifles, the thing that concerns me is we

have an epidemic of mass shootings where you have four -- four or more victims and where you hear this horrific case in tennessee were children are shot, every day somewhere in america we have a killing with four or more people practically on average, more than that in the united states, and there are many contributors to that. i do not believe there are easy solutions whether it is mental health, of course it is part of it, gun control and gun accountability is part of it. having greater stake holding of people so we can identify potential risk actors, all of this is the ecosystem that matters and right now we have a result that is horrific i think for our country and it is sad because there's a lot of violence in the united states today. host: let's hear from luke, independent. caller: hello. i wanted to agree with the man's

point about needing more money for processing asylum cases, the backlog of five years is a big problem. i think that backlog just displays that it is both sides of the aisle in congress are ok with the deadlock that exists. i think if there was a real interest in solving the problem then something doesn't resemble what exists today would exist. i really don't actually know the intricacies of what the disagreement exists and i think that is probably my central question, what are the issues

that republicans and democrats tend today dig in their heels about as nonnegotiable? host: ok, we got it. guest: i would mention two really good resources for deeper understanding of this, tom nichols at the land take, a conservative. i don't know affair is, and both of them have written quite eloquently about the challenge of immigration, asylum, the southern border, and even if you are a person who on the progressive side of the equation strongly embraces america's asylum culture, there is no doubt that legal system is breaking down, overwhelmed, and has created the backlog leading to some of these very visibly horrible circumstances at the board because america cannot be

america without that. i would recommend it. tom nichols, a conservative, kind of a right up front, tell it is writer who had different views on this has shifted somewhat and sort of an intellectually honest position in the atlantic. i think he has done a good job of capturing what some of the tensions are. to the viewers point, we talk about the southern border as a problem without talking about potential pathways of fixing it, as if it would go away if there was a wall. that's not can happen. or talking about asylum being the answer when it is not the answer either. almost any strand you pull is going to require resources, attention, and strategy. so it has been the lack of that deeper understanding of the tectonic issues involved that kept this at the southern border at a vapid level at on the solved -- at unsolved and

unaddressed. i was hoping vice president kamala harris has been more successful than she has been. she has not in successful, not created a broader national understanding or dialogue about what needs to be happening and what the important role of immigrants probably process into the country are. i concur with the viewer that more understanding is needed. there are good writers and thinkers. sometimes journalists tarp on these issues as well and these are two i would strongly recommend looking at. host: what will be the biggest foreign policy issue of the 2024 election? guest: china. i think there is russia, ukraine, the issue of america's place in the world but without a doubt the bipartisan concern over where to go with china while at the same time china is america's number one trading partner, there are a lot of inconsistencies and a lot of contradictions in america's u.s. relations with china but trying to navigate the course short of

a kinetic conflict or war, while you're trying to rebalance that relationship, and we sell a lot of products to china is going to be a complex one that gets a lot of attention. host: steve clemons, editor at large, thank you. guest: thank you so much. host: upext, becca romero rainey's president and ceo of the the independent bankers of america and discusses the recent stresses in the banking sector. we will be right back. announcer: since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span provided complete coverage of the halls of congress from house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings, c-span gives

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documentery.aryland for their watch the grand prize and all winning documentaries at studentcam.org. announcer: c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the day's biggest events of live streams of floor proceedings from the u.s. congress, white house events, courts, campaigns, and more from the world of politics at your fingertips. also stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" and find scheduling information for c-span's tv network and c-span radio, plus podcasts. c-span now is available in the apple store and google play, download for free today. c-span now, your front-row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. announcer: "washington journal"

continues. host: welcome back to "washington journal". my guest is rebeca romero rainey , the president and ceo of the independent community bankers of america. welcome to the program. guest: thank you for having me. host: we will be taking your calls and comments until the end of the show. you can give us a call along party affiliations. democrats, (202) 748-8000, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independents, (202) 748-8002. tell us what the independent community bankers of america is and who you work with. guest: it is a national trade association that represents all community banks across the country and we work with our members and bankers across the country and communities of rural, suburban, and metro areas. host: what is a community bank? how do you define it? guest: community bank is a local

institution whose business model is based on relationship banking. essentially what a community bank does is take local deposits , turns it around in the form of loans to create essentially economic development in communities across the u.s.. host: why are they important? you've got a lot of big banks, got a lot of resources and economies of scale so why even have community banks? guest: for community banks, it is one in three counties in the united states would not have the local financial institutions. community banks make up 60 print s -- 60% of small business loans and 80% of all agricultural loans. what you're looking at is an infrastructure that built the economy. when we think about the role of small businesses, their access to credit is through a local institution. community banks are able to offer the high touch technology and other products and services

but at the end of the day when you have a problem, a question, you have a local banker there to help you. and the good times and more important and more important in challenging times. host: let's talk about the bank failures of seleka valley bank and signature bank. what happened from your perspective? guest: a great question. what we begin to study and understand what happened here in this institution which nearly tripled in size between 2019 and 2022, they had a concentrated business model. depositors and loans through a volatile industry of high-tech and venture capital and many said lately was not a well-managed institution so they were taking on incredible risks without a framework to really appropriately manage that in high-growth environment. host: did those failures really impact community banks and smaller banks? guest: from what we saw in the failure, it happened so quickly.

they saw a digital run on the banks, billions of dollars withdrawn from the bank in less than 24 hours and it really caused people to question what has happened here as depositors is my money stave -- safe and as we went to the weekend ny why institutions fail so quickly is making folks wonder what does that mean to other institutions? so it's been a great opportunity for us to say what happens there and in those institutions are very different from what you see in community banks. host: there's a headline here from reuters that says small u.s. banks see record drop in deposits after svp collapse. so what is that mean? are people starting to pull their money out of the smaller banks and going to the larger banks? guest: first we have to distinguish small banks and there is a lot run into these category. svb was called a small bank and they were $210 billion, the 16th

largest bank in the country. to me that is not a small bank. what we've seen is for the nations community banks, really the smallest of local institutions, their deposits remained steady over this time. in fact, some of them, their deposits are growing because getting back to that business model, it's a relationship folks have with the local community bankers and they know they trust and feel like that is the safe play for them and their deposits. host: do you agree the federal government should have stepped in on those two bank failures? people are calling it a bailout. the administration says it is not a bailout. where you stand? guest: what a tricky call to make. we needed a sense of calm in this country and that is essentially what happened. i think the question here as we think about this concept of bailout, are we rewarding risky decisions and actions? there will be a lot as we need

to unpack as part of the as we think about decisions made in the future, but i completely agree we need to cash we needed calm to prevail, folks to take a deep breath, and assess what is needed as we work through those failures. host: some said it was the regulators asleep at the wheel. what do you think of that? is there more regulation needed? what do you think? guest: it is fascinating to me. and i look at the level of growth and concentration that has taken on, decisions and lack of tools in terms of managing interest rate risks, there is no community bank that has been allowed to operate in that time and that sort of scenario. whether they are applying applicable or similar rules, i can tell you that would not have happened in a community bank. host: senator elizabeth warren blames the rollback of the 2018 laws, rolling back dodd frank

essentially. do you agree with that? did your organization support that 2018 law? guest: we did support what was called 2155, the bill that made some of the changes the senator referenced. i don't think we know enough yet to know that that was the cause of failure. i go back to why weren't we enforcing the rules that has community banks we know to be in existence? that was clearly not the case in terms of what the fed was allowed to do and decisions made there. host: let's start taking some calls. brian is up first in washington, independent. hi, brian. caller: good morning, "washington journal." i kind of got switched on topics. i wanted to go with the previous caller but this one here might be familiar with the local story i'm familiar with, the largest gold strike in republic

washington. they were talking over $1 billion of new gold they have tapped into but when i was working in the public washington in the 1990's, the community was in a dilemma, seattle first was pulling out of county seat, republic washington, the county seat and the only bank in town was shuttering its doors. i think it was seattle first bank and they had a dilemma of a county seat without a banking or financial institution which would make it a situation where the service workers, the government workers could not cash their paychecks so it cannot be a county seat so that was pretty interesting to me so i was wondering, do you guys have similar situations where the economy is going in the tank

and they decided there is enough deposits made here and we will shut our doors because they had to have a bank come in from out of the area to keep the community going as a functioning government county seat. anyway -- host: ok, brian. we got it. guest: i'm not familiar with this particular story or bank but it resonates for me in terms of why a community bank is so important and having access again when a community is faced with challenge where resources can be immediately deployed by people that know the specific issues on the ground and people that live and work in these communities. gar this of challenges, that is why the local presence is important and stories like this reiterate the need for these local institutions. host: i want to show you treasury secretary janet yellen and i will ask you to comment on it.

she talked about the possibility of protecting smaller banks. [video clip] >> let me be clear, the government's recent actions demonstrated how resolute commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure depositors savings and banking system remains safe. our approach has two main pillars, first we work with the federal reserve and fdic to protect all depositors in the resolutions of silicon valley bank and signature bank. the steps we took were not focused on aiding specific banks or class of banks. our intervention was necessary to protect broader u.s. banking system. similar actions could be warranted of smaller institutions for deposit runs

that pose the risk of contagion. host: that was the treasury secretary, what do you think of that? guest: i think there are several comments there that are notable and that is what we saw is that of contagion and it demonstrates the secretary's commitment to ensuring banks of all sizes would receive similar treatment in the event. i think it also demonstrates how it is important -- how important community banks are to the community. this is not just about size, it is about ensuring community banks who are systemically important to their local communities are protected and receive the same treatment that we saw here with these two failures. host: are they as protected as larger banks are by the federal government? guest: that's one of the things that we would see in the event of a failure but i think when we think about the regulatory

environment and the community operates, when a community bank is examined, you have an open book process, they are looking at everything going on in the institution because there's a scale to do it. when we look about the safety and soundness and now statements have been made by secretary ellen, this ensures the ongoing commitment for the health and competitiveness of the community banking system. she used those words are self. host: we are going to be taking -- herself. host: we are going to be taking calls. if you would like to make a comment or question for our gas, call us on our lines by party affiliation. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, independents (202) 748-8002. we will take your calls until the top of the hour. the lady is first in missouri, independent line. >> thanks for c-span. i live in a small town in

missouri and the rate of interest for people coming in is too high and they took our bank, they came in and handcuffed our bank president and hauled him off and we don't know why they did that but another bank came in and bought the bank out, i guess they had to sellout i don't know but we don't know what is going on. this is just why i called. your interest rate is way too high. if i go into a bank and there is some teller sitting there not doing anything, we are paying for that out here of the real people. you michael back and tell your bankers keep the interest rate down for the poor people in this country. i really appreciate it. thank you very much for c-span. host: you probably don't set the interest rate yourself. guest: i don't, but i appreciate those comments and the

acknowledgment of the roles of community bank. host: michael is in grand rapids, michigan, democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to talk about black farmers. i understand from the conversation the community banks are giving loners to black farmers throughout the south and country. and black farmers have not been able to get the kinds of loans other people, white folks, get. there loans are delayed or to appoint where they kick it with a need during plane season. in fact, i've heard on reveal or possibly elsewhere that the comment that the people that often times in the south worked

the farm yet when they try to get their own loans, black folks that is, they had a difficult time getting that. can you assess that? community is the major loan or to the community bank or something like that. guest: i prescient those comments. yes, community banks make over all 80% of agricultural loans in this country. i would encourage folks if you're somebody looking whether it is for a farm loan or whatever it is, a sure you visit your local community bank and that you have explored those options. they stand ready and willing to serve and engage and ensure small businesses of all types continue to grow and flourish across the country. host: let's hear from kurt in cocoa beach, florida, republican. caller: good morning. i just have two general questions. the bank gives out loans.

me, i have small deposits in banks, how do i know what these loans are? meeting are they risky loans? is there a published thing that banks put out? i never even with think of this until i watched another show yesterday and someone was explaining be aware of the shenanigans they use to word up what goes on in your bank. could you answer that question? the second when you mentioned there was a digital withdrawal at silicon bank. what is a digital withdrawal and why would anyone know that unless they knew there was going down? guest: thank you. on your first question about how do you know what loans are bank is making. i can't stress the benefit of banking with a community bank. one, you can look at their community statement and that will give a good sense of the type of businesses in the community but also if you live

and work in a community, you see the signs of what is going on. you are engaging with bankers, you see and know folks getting there loans and credit needs met by the local institution and it is a symbiotic system in that and very transparent in the nature that you see it on the local level in terms of what is happening there. back to your second question that relates to what happened with silicon valley bank. essentially what happened, there was a bit of a twitter storm in essence that lead to incredible rumors about what was going on in this bank and in the quick period of time, people were using automated functions, they were not going into the bank to physically take out money, they were transferring it electronically. so that created a very fast and as we said a bit of a chronic condition in terms of trying to transfer these funds. host: let's talk to bob on the

independent line from michigan. hello. caller: hi. this is all good, the reasons why silicon valley bank failed because of it but i think most people ask them selves, if the ftse would guarantee up to $250,000, why are we making good on people who had $250,000 in non-fda see-insured deposits -- fdic-insured deposits. i know janet yellen as a student of big banks has to save them but i don't feel -- if -- he does not even make any sense. the average person would say if you can get it insured, the only reason you would have $250,000 in a savings account that is not insured is if you did not want it discovered. wen yu go -- when you go fdic,

idling the federal government is looking at the small banks that don't -- where the money is not fdic-insured. why are we not making -- why we making good on those people when they had the option to do good? guest: i'm a little unclear on the question but i would state, in this instance, the depositors whether they had $250,000 or more is what the government has essentially made safe here in their efforts to protect the depositors and so calm -- sew calm. host: i think he is against the government stepping in, if they are uninsured that is the real problem. guest: thus the question of life, how do we do this as we move forward? guest: democrats --

host: democrats line, your next. caller: thank you for the opportunity. i would like to know what the data are. i would like to see the study with a sampling of let's say 350 banks, large, medium, small, by type of banks and experts could say what type of bank there are out there and you could get a quick sense of the extent of the problem with lower interest rates, higher interest rates, it's ultra -- etc. we need to know what the data are before we listen to reassurances, and i do not hear anyone discussing that. host: what you think? guest: i think there is a lot of data out there. i think quarterly the fdic comes out with data and you can look at the institution.

as we look at the community banks, deposits were stable, capital of -- capital levels were strong, as our quality was strong. there are many ways to look at aggregate information. i also look at it from a production perspective in terms of what community banks are doing and their presence in first-time home lending for home buyers, small businesses. i think that tells quite a bit. host: i want to show you a question here we got from tyrell in north carolina via text, what are the rules for fbi insurance being changed to cover more than $250,000? can a similar situation occur with an investment account? guest: good question. just yesterday, in testimony on the hill, a chairman of the ftse noted on may 1 they would be releasing essentially a study of deposit insurance.

there's a lot of folks asking what do we do in terms of insurance premium, the amount of insurance, so i think you will see that conversation really take shape in the coming months to see where we go from here based on lessons learned in this experience. host: we got a comment on twitter for michael who says calling svb a "mini bank" makes it sound like a cute mom-and-pop operation. it is a bunch of woke millionaires making ripoff investments and giving each other big bonus checks. guest: svb is not a community bank. it was the 16th largest bank in the country that had tripled in size and the last five years. that is not a community bank. host: what you think of operators facing criminal liability in the cases of these failures? guest: if they were criminal actions, if laws were not followed, that is something that should be reviewed. host: let's talk to joe in

pittsburgh, pennsylvania. caller: hello, how are you doing, mimi? host: good. caller: you kind of segued into my question. my question is when a cfo and ceo of a bank overhears that his insider trading and illegal they need to be prosecuted and how many other people were in the link and what were their connections and where are we going, will that be investigated? it needs to be otherwise there will be large banks at risk. thank you. guest: if there were actions taken that is illegal and it is questionable in what we are starting to hear, again, type of actions that would not be allowed in the community bank, that you would not see. as more comes to lie, i agree, it needs to be investigated. host: i want to show you an article from market watch and your quoted in this article. the headline is "small banks call for deposit insurance

clarity." janet yellen said smaller banks will be helped if they are deemed a contagion risk. do you think that clarity as been given to you by the treasury department or is there confusion about that? guest: it is a good question because what we have heard from treasury is that they would apply similar treatment to the bank experience this sort of contagion or reinstitution that it would not be limited to the sizes of institution so there have been multiple statements along the lines and that would be our expectation, community banks would similar treatment. host: let's talk to steve calling us from maine, independent. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: very good. caller: i'm calling regarding the $250,000 threshold at the

banks. last week when i transferred funds to the other to take advantage of the [indiscernible] there was a way around getting that 200 for $2000 threshold. currently i have $300,000 cd on disk a few days ago and by naming beneficiaries to the account i'm able to get insured for over $500,000. as a matter fact, i have a treasury bond coming due next year and another $200,000 on that and still covered under the ftse insurance -- fdic insurance. guest: it's a great question and yes, the insurance threshold has nuances as a relates to even how

the family is treated and individual names on the accounts. as you noted, this is another way to increase the level of insurance and i would direct folks the ftse has great tools on their website where you can literally walk through on the site, put in a situation where you can expand insurance coverage. also talk to your local community banker as they work through your individual situation. there are certainly a variety of different ways in which to expand your coverage. host: tom is next, jacksonville, florida, democrat. caller: hello? host: hello, time. go right ahead. caller: thank you for taking my question. my question may be simplistic. i'm one of those guys that is investing in cds with banks so my question is bailing a bank,

being able to make risky investors by boards of directors so -- host: sorry, you are cutting out. say just your question again. caller: sagan? host: say your -- say again? host: so your question again. you are cutting out. caller: the regulations of banks , does the lady on tv right now have influence or fdic where you have to figure out a way to let angst know we cannot bail you out if you will make risky bets like what happened in california. there should be a level where they say no you cannot make those types of investments. host: what you think? guest: i think it is already a play with community banks. when you think about again how a community bank is examined, the

thresholds we are taking, and i heard a great comment from a community banker in the last three days that said were making decisions and managing risks and of the short-term was 10 years for us. their approach to risk management is ensuring the viability of the organization. i think that is certainly what we are seeing over generations of community banks and how they are managed and run. host: james is calling for marilyn, republican. >> so i had a question in the context here, i used to work with [indiscernible] we had some accounts insured for the health insurance and they would get policies for reinsurance so specific and aggregate policies that would cover like two different types of scenarios and the ftse 250

grand limit similar to like a specific policy. i knew we had a lot of talk of the development of these banking stress tests of the 2008 financial crisis so do we see any models coming in the future where banks will be forced to buy reassurance policies based on the asset classes they are investing in. -- in? guest: it's a great question. i'm not sure what to expect there. as i mentioned earlier, the chairman will be coming out with several different studies they have made. i'm not sure reinsurance will be part of that and i would also note you will find and many institutions situations where they leverage private insurance to expand the level of coverage

behind -- beyond $250,000. so certainly something to explore there. host: lester is next in with carolina, republican. caller: yes. thank you. i was [indiscernible] some that concerned me is one of the leaders of a bank resigned his position over the credit suisse situation. that is where i would start, how we are going to [indiscernible] host: do you know anything about that? guest: i don't, not that particular situation. host: joe in idaho, independent. caller: yes, my name is gerald and i need to know why i have to

go to the computer to get my bonds. i used to get them in the banking institution and i am not computer illiterate and don't know how to use a computer and need to know what going to a banking institution is taken away? guest: sorry to hear you are having troubles with that. there have been several rule changes with treasury in terms of how these bonds are exchanged , if you're struggling with that i would encourage you to go by your community bank and get help with it. host: i want to show you an article from the wall street journal with the headline svb collapse shows smaller banks can pose risks and numbers. former regulators say washington has been too focused on "too big to fail banks." do you agree with that? guest: the complete opposite.

as we saw during the 2008 financial crisis the concept to big to fail was reinforced and as a community banker myself, having lived through countless examinations and working through that environment, regulation and enforcement is alive and well in the community bank -- community bank environment. host: let's talk to lou in georgia, independent line. caller: good morning. i have a quick question, with the proliferation of credit unions, it appears to me credit unions do not have the problem that we have with banking. even back in the crisis of 2008, there seemed to be few credit unions that had to be bailed out or rescued. i'm just wondering what are they doing that makes them such a good financial institution.

thank you. guest: i could go on for days on that particular question and several things that i would note here. first off, very different in terms of the level of regulation and how troubled credit unions might be treated versus other banks. i would also point out and note that if you look at what is the difference between a credit union and community bank, the credit unions do not pay any income tax. they also are not nearly as engaged in the small business structure so it is quite a different comparison if we look at the two different types of institutions. host: let's talk to chris next in tennessee, republican. caller: i worked for a captive finance company or did until i retired last year, and i am

curious -- we had problems in the late 1980's with the snl's with long durations and short deposits and it seems it is rearing its ugly head again. with our company, because of our conservative nature of business that owns us, we are about 80% to 90% match funded and it does not appear any of the banks in this current issues have that kind of makeup, and even though we have been through this once before, what is it going to take to change that? i know we will have higher interest rates but i do not understand why we know at this problem is when interest rates rise quickly but we do not do anything about it.

guest: i would say that community banks are certainly doing a lot about it. if you look at the asset liability management's and how the balance sheets are structured, the decisions they are making to ensure whether we are in rising rate environment to pay for interest rates but prepared for any cycle that come their way and i would say that is certainly being done. that is something we have to acknowledge, that what has happened over the last year, we saw balances growing in financial institutions as a result of stimulus funds and ppp disbursements and very unique situations coupled with very fast-paced interest-rate environment, banks are working their way through and that really is what they are designed to do as they manage through recycling. host: at 10:00 am, in about seven minutes, we are going to

be covering the hearing on the collapse of selleck and valley bank with testimony from officials from the federal deposit insurance corporation, federal reserve, and treasury department. we will have live coverage starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3. you can also watch on the free mobile video app c-span now or online at c-span.org. our next caller in minister zarif -- missouri. caller: yes. the collapse of oh, there was talk of mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps. i was surprised this time around when they started talking about backed securities again and i thought we did away with that. another topic, inflation. i believe the whole world has got it wrong.

inflation is not the cause of our rising prices. if it was, if the dollar was only worth $.50 then everything would double in price, it would not be equal throughout the spectrum of our spending. host: we will get a response from that. guest: thanks, jim. as a relates to mortgage-backed securities, this is very different environment than we faced in the financial crisis and does not have anything to do specifically with mortgage-backed securities but to some extent how svb was managing their investment portfolio, the duration, the terms, and structure of it. so not specific to mortgage-backed securities. host: jeff is an independent in wisconsin. good morning.

caller: host: good morning. -- caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. first off, and the banking system, the housing bubble, if we were to just extend credit to the housing loans underwater, we would have came out of this with pennies on the dollar compared to what it cost. this idea of investment banking, it is the depositors that are investors in the bank. the stockholders should be made accountable along with the bank for these poor loans. and when the two kind of collide , it is always the stockholder that is worried about. it should be the actual depositor. and we have the fdic with

250,000 dollars, that is not the problem. when the banks make the issue of the investment, stockholders should also be on the hook for some of this. they take the big ride but they all want to get off at the top. while they better start stepping forward and making sure these banks are in the up and up and it is not even just in the banking industry, it is all industries. host: got it. guest: i completely agree. as we look at the situation with svb, the depositors were made whole and investors lost and that is what was expected of the situation. i would also say if you look at the community banking industry, if you look at investors in the banks that have been there in many cases over generations and they are wanting to ensure that investment is growing over time and that is why they pay such incredible lengths to manage risks and make decisions. host: let's talk to alan next, a

republican in virginia. hi, alan. caller: thank you for taking my call. what does the public groups need to do in order to protect ourselves from guns in schools? host: wrong subject, alan. sorry about that, that was a previous segment. we are talking about community banks. we do have a question for you from twitter. deb is asking if you know anything about the ftx sam bankman-fried case. she says is that joker in jail yet or is he still living in luxury? guest: nothing ever happens to the wealthy -- host: nothing really happens to the robber barons. guest: i'm not sure where they cases but i agree some pretty fraudulent activity by the looks of it. demands justice. host: i want to tell you about another program that is coming up at 2:30, live coverage before

the senate appropriations subcommittee. that will be on c-span3 and begins at 2:30 eastern time. you can watch it either on c-span3, on our free mobile video i've, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. what is your organization going to be focused on going forward? guest: we are really focused on ensuring community banks are understood and differentiated. i think something we learned in the last couple weeks is that not all banks are the same. i say this is an interesting opportunity for folks to think about who they are banking with, how those relationships are developed and formed over time, and that there is a distinct difference when you bank with a community bank. host: what's the message do you think to depositors, to clients of the smaller community banks? guest: the message is we are in

this for the long run, and we succeed when community and customers succeed. for small businesses looking for help and on small business plans, for consumers looking to save for the future, you have an incredible resource in your local community bank and we help you work through that process with the long term in mind. host: rebeca romero rainey, president and ceo of independent community bankers of america, thank you for being with us. guest: thank you for having me. host: that's it for today's "washington journal." we will be back again tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. eastern as usual. thank you to everybody that called in and participated with us and have a great day. here is the house. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms,

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